Amusement devices, such as drawing devices for use generally by children of the type contemplated by the present invention have been developed, such as the tracing device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,505 assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Generally speaking, prior art drawing devices included a fluid-tight compartment having a transparent upper surface. The transparent surface is preferably made of glass to avoid scratching by a below mounted, user controllable stylus. The fluid-tight container is filled with a fluid or fine powder, such as a fine metallic powder, which will be attracted to and coat the inner surface of the transparent plate rendering it opaque. A pulley and rod mechanism mounts a stylus for contact with the inside surface of the transparent plate so that movement of the stylus by the operator causes a dislocation of the fluid on the inner surface of the plate, which is visible to the user to form a sketch or drawing or picture.
An improvement to these type of amusement devices is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,505, also assigned to the Assignee of the present invention, which added a number of safety features to ensure that the fluid material would not leak from the fluid-tight container and to prevent broken glass from escaping the event the glass plate was broken or damaged thereby improving the safety of the drawing device for use by children.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,891 also assigned to the Assignee of the present invention, includes several additional improvements which provide added useful features to enable the cursor to be moved out of contact with the glass surface to add greater flexibility to the type of drawings that can be created.